Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $270,000 Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Consilio Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,922 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $270,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.4% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 23,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,751,000 after purchasing an additional 1,426 shares in the last quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 23.9% during the 1st quarter. Grimes & Company Inc. now owns 2,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $248,000 after purchasing an additional 410 shares in the last quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.1% during the 1st quarter. Shepherd Financial Partners LLC now owns 4,052 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $473,000 after purchasing an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $524,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. UBS Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Citigroup upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $165.54.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $160.01 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $255.43 billion, a PE ratio of 16.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $166.77. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $152.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $136.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $18.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 41.03%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.